Brooklyn is paying tribute to filmmaker Spike Lee with a series of special events. Universal pictures will present a special screening celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Do The RIght Thing." The final celebration will be on June 30th when Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will name June 30th Spike Lee Day. Congrats to talented director/producer/actor Spike Lee.

He’s been able to “Do the Right Thing” for two decades, and now Brooklyn will honor filmmaker Spike Lee during a three-day festival.

"Where’s Mars: Brooklyn Honor Spike Lee” takes its name from Lee’s character in one of his early films, "She’s Gotta Have It." Organizer Rasu Jilani says the tribute is also meant to coincide with the 20th anniversary of "Do the Right Thing" saying “That’s the most synonymous with Brooklyn and Spike Lee epitomizes Brooklyn."

The Brooklyn native will be honored through events including the “He Got Game” father/son basketball tournament, a photo exhibit featuring Lee’s brother, David Lee, panel discussions with notable Brooklyn authors and personalities, a poetry slam, and an art exhibit inspired by Lee’s work where organizer Sallome Hralima says pieces were submitted from artists from “all over the world actually.”Related Stories

"He took one medium, which is film, said Hralima, "and completely transformed the people look at sports, the way people look at people of color in film, the way that people look at marketing and merchandising their own names."

The “Where’s Mars” tribute starts Thursday, June 25th and lasts until the 28th.

BROOKLYN HONORS SPIKE LEE IS A MULTI-FACETED TRIBUTE, orchestrated by PlanIt Brooklyn, that invites the 5 Boroughs, and the world, to celebrate the breadth and scope of Lee’s work and educate them about the impact he has had on popular culture. Through collaborations with respected Brooklyn entities, Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee sets a standard in innovation comparable to the quality and integrity of the cultural contributions demonstrated by the icon.

We invite New York residents, music legends and rising stars, film and television celebrities, entertainment industry leaders, trendsetters of the fashion world, fans, and … YOU, to the ultimate Spike Lee experience – “mind – body – spirit”.

While Spike Lee is known for his moving images, his work has influenced a multitude of artists that cross genre, language, and border. During the exhibition’s opening art lovers will see Lee and his films as inspiration through ballpoint, chalk, oil paint, stencils and more.

A critically acclaimed panel that will discuss the indelible mark Lee has made on popular culture, with panelists including native Brooklyn television personalities, actors, academicians, entrepreneurs and entertainers. RSVP Here

DavidLee has been shooting stills on 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks’ sets since the beginning. Lee has been able to capture not only historic 40 Acres’ scenes, but Brooklyn’s vibrancy, and has inspired a flood of aspiring artists, photographers and filmmakers. DavidLee’s stills of children, brownstone-filled streets, and now blockbuster actors early in their careers serve as some of the most beautiful examples of his brother’s genius. This exhibition will include images from “She’s Gotta Have It.”

“Do the Right Thing” was laced with some of the most memorable lines and quotes of the 1980s. Through Sweet Dick Willie, Pino, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X, Spike Lee used soul-stirring language to connect with audiences. This event will demonstrate the impact Lee’s films have had on the revived art of spoken word.

This two-on-two tournament will include father (male guardian or mentor) and son teams (two-on-two) playing for the He Got Game Trophy. Participants will witness star-studded performances and a female basketball shoot-out, receive Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee giveaways, and family and friends in attendance are encouraged to picnic. REGISTER TO PLAY here

Do The Spike Thing: A Block Party – MOVED TO A LATER DATE

Back in the day Spike Lee was known for throwing the most anticipated block parties in Brooklyn. Not only was the borough fast becoming a filmmaker’s dream backdrop, it was slowly turning into the best place to gather on a warm summer’s day. Done “Dave Chappelle-Style,” participants are guided to an undisclosed location in Brooklyn, complete with live performances, “red carpet sightings,” and family-centered activities.

The Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood feud that began last month at the Cannes Film Festival is heating up. Spike criticized the veteran Oscar winning director and actor while doing press to promote his own WWII film about African-American Buffalo Soldiers.

"Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total, and there was not one Negro actor on the screen," alleged Lee. " ... There's no way I know why he did that. That was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It's not like he didn't know." source

Eastwood had some choice words for the influential African-American film director. He basically told Spike Lee off in his Dirty Harry voice saying, "A guy like him should shut his face." To which Spike replied, "The man is not my father and we're not on a plantation."

Whoah, hold up, rewind that back! How did all of this get started? Well, while Spike Lee was in Cannes recently promoting his WWII flick "Miracle at St Anna," due for release later this year in October, about 4
African-Americans US soldiers. He put Eastwood on blast and criticized
him for the lack of African-American representation in both WWII movies
"Flags of Our Father" and "Letters from Iwo Jima."

Spike Lee told reporters, "He
did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black
soldier in both of those films. Many veterans, African-Americans, who
survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo
Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different
version."

Eastwood responded to Lee's comments in a recent interview with Guardian.co.uk he said:

"Has he ever studied the history?" he asks, in that familiar near-whisper....

"He was complaining when I did Bird [the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker]. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else." As for Flags of Our Fathers, he says, yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jima as a part of a munitions company, "but they didn't raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."

Lee shouldn't be demanding African-Americans in Eastwood's next picture, either. "Changeling" is set in Los Angeles during the Depression, before the city's make-up was changed by the large black influx. "What are you going to do, you gonna tell a fuckin' story about that?" he growls. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like Bird, I use 90% black people."

Eastwood pauses, deliberately - once it would have provided him with the beat in which to spit out his cheroot before flinging back his poncho - and offers a last word of advice to the most influential black director in American movies. "A guy like him should shut his face."

"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a
plantation either. He's a great director. He makes his films, I make
my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him.
And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' -- come on
Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

"If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo
Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was
insignificant and they did not exist," he said. "I'm not making this
up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of
Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and
women who contributed to World War II."

We're feelin' Spike for pointing out the factual inconsistencies and don't think this will be the end of this Hollywood beef. It's okay for Clint Eastwood to disagree with Spike Lee but his response for him to "shut his face" was disrespectful. Spike is a talented and well respected award winning director. He is a college professor and not some random uneducated guy Clint found on the street and told off. We think these too should focus on making good movies. There were mixed reviews from Cannes about Clint Eastwood's latest film Changeling starring Angelina Jolie. Ioncinema called the film “another formulaic endeavor from Eastwood - nice looking, expensive film that fails to stick”.